From the Heart and for the Heart (of Africa), a Call to Action

Opinion from Scott Wolfe. Scott is Coordinator of the Federation of Bitcoin Circular Economies, and Executive Director of the Bitcoin Coalition of Canada. He has spent the past twenty years in the not-for-profit sector with a focus on community health and development.

I am writing this from the comfort of my home in Toronto, Canada, with a world of thoughts swirling through my head. It is Day 2 of the 2024 African Bitcoin Conference, in Nairobi, Kenya. I am sad to not be there. I am also incredibly moved by the powerful messages emanating from the event as I watch the livestream.

This article will reflect on some of those messages and outline some commitments and donations that I am making today. I am also using this as an appeal to others – especially people outside the African continent – to join in donating to important projects throughout the continent. Before getting to that though, I want to situate this all against a backdrop, one that I hope can set a tone for action and healing.

The title of this article is a deliberate nod to one of the first essays I ever read by the late Nigerian scholar and writer, Chinua Achebe, a critique of author Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness. It is an essay which I read in my teens, given to me by an extra-curricular mentor, after I expressed my unease at the content of Conrad’s novel, something I was forced to read as part of my high school English literature curriculum.

In his essay, "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'", Achebe writes: “Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as "the other world," the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization, a place where man's vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant beastiality.”

A cottage industry of apologists has dismissed critiques such as Achebe’s, claiming that Conrad’s novel is simply a product of its time, perhaps even visionary for trying to place the challenges of cultural, racial, and ethnic difference in relief. These apologetics form part of a larger geopolitical and cultural motif regarding the African continent, one that persists to this day: to excuse away the status quo and to wash our hands of responsibility. The African continent is represented by an almost blinding array of peoples, cultures, languages, religions, political systems, and civilizational contributions. Yet, far too often Africa is unceremoniously reduced to a voiceless, homogeneous mass. Sometimes this is done unconsciously and other times deliberately, to satisfy convenient narratives about Africa which exist outside of the continent. We must interrogate these narratives and utterly shatter them.

Many years ago, given the choice to accept convenient apologetics or the uncomfortable critiques presented by Achebe – critiques which simultaneously called on me to question my own role and place as a Canadian kid from the suburbs of Ottawa, Canada – I chose the latter. Since then, I have tried to always maintain fidelity to the significance of that choice, something that has permeated my life journey in so many ways. Returning to what prompted me to action today, though, as I listened to this morning’s keynote speakers from the African Bitcoin Conference – Femi Longe, Marcel Lorraine, and Abubakar Nur Khalil -- a greater spirit within me rose and spoke. It is the spirit which is responsible for maintaining fidelity to the choice which I made long ago, and it is also the spirit which calls on me to honour all that has been given to me, gifted to me by brothers and sisters (family) from the African continent and the African diaspora in the Caribbean and North America throughout my lifetime. It called on me to do more, to get up, and to act.

I am still processing what my actions and commitments must look like more fully. For the moment, I am getting started by making personal donations to several important Bitcoin-focused initiatives throughout the African continent. While these donations will only make a small dent in the overall needs of these projects and the bigger collective project epitomized by the African Bitcoin Conference, I hope that my words and my actions here will resonate and inspire others to act and donate. Together, we can collectively build on the momentum being gained in Nairobi this week and accelerate outcomes.

Today, I am donating a total of 1,500,000 sats as follows:

500,000 sats to Bitcoin DADA, a non-profit organization providing education and support to women throughout the continent https://checkout.bitnob.co/d/1df56fcc-fed2-49ae-b44c-e01874c2dd84

250,000 sats to The Core, a Kenya-based project increasing Bitcoin education throughout the continent, especially via the Mi Primer Bitcoin curriculum https://geyser.fund/project/thecore21m

250,000 sats, in trust, toward the establishment of an African Bitcoin Institute, as called for by Femi Longe

250,000 sats in total to Bitcoin circular economy projects, including:

Afribit Kibera (Kenya) https://geyser.fund/project/merchantmeetupsforkibra

Bitcoin Anambra (Nigeria) https://geyser.fund/project/bitcoinanambra

Bitcoin Babies (Kenya) https://bitcoinbabies.com/

Calabar Bitcoin Club (Nigeria) https://geyser.fund/project/calabarbitcoinclub

Bitcoin Chama (Kenya) https://geyser.fund/project/bitcoinchama?mtm_campaign=project-share&mtm_keyword=bitcoinchama&mtm_sou

Bitcoin Dua (Ghana) https://geyser.fund/project/bitcoineducationcenter

Bitcoin Ekasi (South Africa) https://support.bitcoinekasi.com

Bitcoin Kampala (Uganda) https://btcpay0.voltageapp.io/apps/2HHdoHM52tr4wbx2KUaeguNKTDfm/crowdfund

Bitcoin Loxion (South Africa) – Lightning address: [email protected]

Bitcoin Nairobi (Kenya) https://geyser.fund/project/btcnairobi?hero=geyser

Bitcoin Victoria Falls (Zambia) https://geyser.fund/project/bitcoinvictoriafalls

125,000 sats to the Kenya Fire Brigades Association https://pay.zaprite.com/pl_SSXGpaHAe3, via Proof of Workforce, to support the use of BTC as a treasury reserve asset by institutions and organizations on the continent

125,000 sats for purchase of copies of The Bitcoin Leap: How Bitcoin Is Transforming Africa https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Leap-How-Transforming-Africa/dp/B0DJX4HHF5, with distribution to key decision makers who can help catalyze further investment and action on the African continent. I entrust these decision to the author, Charlene Hill Fadirepo, in consultation with colleagues from the continent.

I encourage others to join in making donations to these or other Bitcoin-focused projects throughout the African continent and to do so not as charity, but as part of a deeper personal commitment to interrogating and interrupting narratives about Africa which we far too often perpetuate outside of the continent.

As Femi Longe said in his keynote address today, “Bitcoin is a tool that we can use to restore Africa’s dignity. We must wield that tool with agency.”

In making public my commitment to action, I also want to note that I am deliberately publishing this via The Progressive Bitcoiner. For a multitude of reasons, ones that I will cover in a future article, I believe strongly that this not-for-profit organization and its publications provide critical platforms to pursue bridge-building, justice, and healing. I invite you to learn more about The Progressive Bitcoiner and to make it a part of your base of resources.